"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Like journalists, photojournalists have an obligation to the public to present facts as truthfully and as objectively as possible. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects citizen in five ways. It states there can be no law that would interfere with the making, organizing and practicing of religion. It protects free speech and freedom of the press. It grants people the right to peaceably assemble (to have meetings, protests and demonstrations) and to petition their government over what they feel is wrong.
Press freedom specifically gives a photojournalist the right to photograph on public property whether individuals are welcoming of that photograph being taken or not. This protection can bleed into photos taken with a long lens from public to outdoor private property, but that would be considered a risky shot and may be contested in a court of law. While it is the role of a photojournalist to capture newsworthy moments in a utilitarian matter—education that results in the greatest good for the greatest amount of people— there are clear ethical guidelines that separate a photojournalist from a member of the paparazzi, in the same way that journalist integrity separates a news reporter from a tabloid writer.
Privacy laws vary from state to state and a photojournalist should be aware of how the law in their jurisdiction tends to balances the friction between personal privacy and the press in regards to the public. The 1st Amendment places some restrictions on privacy law to the media but it does not protect the media completely. According to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, "courts have recognized four major branches of privacy law: 1) unreasonable intrusion upon seclusion; 2) unreasonable revelation of private facts; 3) unreasonably placing another person in a false light before the public; and 4) misappropriation of a persons name or likeness."
Generally people have a certain right to privacy when their is an expectation of privacy, but as stated, this ruling will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Photojournalists are quite different from artist photographers in that they are required to adhere to a code of law and ethics if their work is to remain credible and they are avoid legal conflict. According to the National Press Photographers Association, NPPA Code of Ethics, these include but are not limited to the resisting of staged events and subjects, the removing or adding of anything to a photograph, the intrusion on moments of grief only when the public has a strong and justifiable need to observe, to avoid stereotyping and to provide context, and to be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of all subjects.
The greatest affect the 1st Amendment has on a society is that it produces a democracy. Without the press holding public officials and government accountable, society is likely to become one of totalitarianism where all aspects of individual life is under the authority of government. It is honest journalism and photojournalism that keeps citizens informed, pushes back against governmental power, highlighting and questioning injustices.
It has been said so many times that a picture is worth a thousand words. Though this phrase has become cliche, there is truth in the power that exists when citizens are challenged to look upon what they could otherwise ignore or disremember. Photojournalism captures the joys and sorrows of the human experience, it puts the proof of those experiences on the front page of papers and websites and even when its proof causes outrage, if it is ethically obtained, it is protected by the 1st Amendment to have done so.
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